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Just Ask For It
Published in DMAW Marketing Advents March 2004
Need to raise money? Try asking more people, more often
and in different ways, says this fundraising expert.
At a recent non profit conference with some 1,000
attendees, I asked the question: Why do people give?The
bulk of the answers were only partly correct: Because
they want to contribute ... Because they went to the
college ... Because they know the organization.
The real answer to the question is simply: People
give because you ask them to give. How you ask them
is secondary--in person, via the telephone, through
direct mail, or via internet. That's where fundraisers
like you and I come in--looking at revenue, cost,
and return on investment to determine the most cost-effective
way.
In 2002, overall giving in the United States was
about $241 billion. Trends for 2003 indicate that
it will be yet higher again.* Individuals still make
up the bulk of the givers, a trend that's likely
on the rise. So, asking individual donors to give
to your organization becomes even more vital.
Enter the overall development picture, the giving
pyramid and the communication stream. Whether you
have donors or members will impact the level of giving.
If you have many donors in the top of the pyramid,
but your donor base is declining, you probably are
not feeding any new donors in to replace those donors
who stopped giving. Some organizations may see drops
of 25 to 35 percent in their number of donors from
year to year. It's important to keep bringing in
new donors, reactivating those who stopped giving,
and upgrading existing donors to higher levels to
bring in more money.
Review the breakdown of your donors. How many
donors give less than $100? How many give more than
$1,000? How often do you communicate with your donors
now? What are you asking for? Why do some organizations
mail every two weeks and others only mail an appeal
four times a year? How can they make money that way?
The answer depends on the mission of the organization
and the cases you make for giving. What it really
comes down to is (a) the number of stories you can
tell to motivate donors to give and (b) how many
donors you have who like to hear from your organization.
What have your donors told you? Ask them how many
times they'd like to hear from you, then listen to
and execute that wish. You may end up getting more
money than ever before.
Use all the tools available to communicate with
your donors - mail, phone, in person, depending upon
the giving level of the donor and his or her desire.
Here are a few simple but practical ways to get
more money from its donors:
- Add a reply envelope to a thank-you letter
and see what happens. It's not a hard ask and it
may generate more than enough to pay for the thank-you
letters.
- If you have a newsletter, include areply envelope
and see what happens. Most of the clients who tried
it have made money.
- Make sure you tell your donors what their money
has done. It has been proven that telling a donor
in a thank-you letter what a difference their money
made, will help tremendously the next time.
Certain golden rules and techniques of fundraising
work for all organizations. However, every organization
is different, so test what works for your organization
and track results. That way, you'll make the right
decisions in the short- and the long-term.
*Source: Giving USA 2002, www.aafrc.org
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